Gillian Whitehead | Composer

Ngā Tohu Toi Awards 2024

Interviews and talk

The award ceremony on 27 June during Matariki was filmed and is available on the Ngā Tohu Toi website.

Video — 3 hours

About the awards

The Ngā Tohu Toi awards are presented an at annual event to honour top Māori creatives from the Tauranga Moana.

Whaia te pae tawhiti kia tata, Whaia te Pae tata, Whakamaua kia u, kia tina
Reach for the horizon, for the stars, to bring them close and to hold them tight

The awards are organised by the Te Tuhi Mareikura Charitable Trust which is passionately dedicated to bringing audiences and artists together to experience, explore and develop the unique artistic legacy of the Tauranga Moana region.

As well as rewarding artistic achievement in various aspects of the arts such as film, visual arts, customary knowledge and music, they also honour creative projects, research and international achievement.

Watch the award ceremony

Gillian’s award is the last, and can be seen at about 2:49:05.

Ngā Tohu Toi Awards 2024 — video

Pathfinders: Gillian Whitehead

Documentaries

Filmed in April 2024 for Season 2 of the TVNZ series Pathfinders produced by Scottie’s Productions.

Video — 29:15

About the documentary

The series Pathfinders focuses on Māori leaders in Aotearoa who were raised through the challenging years where te reo Māori was shunned.

This episode, first broadcast on 7 July 2024 at 10am, explores composer Dame Gillian Whitehead’s diverse and innovative career that blends tāonga puoro and traditional musical compositions.

Viewing the documentary

Log in or sign up for TVNZ on Demand to view the documentary. Unfortunately TVNZ content is not available to viewers outside New Zealand.

Cover art for CD: Tio Waka II, Simon Kaan

Notes from a Journey II

Music on CD

6 works for string quartet by New Zealand composers

Atoll ACD289 — released in September 2023

Performers

New Zealand String Quartet (NZSQ): Helene Pohl (first violin), Monique Lapins (second violin), Gillian Ansell (viola) and Rolf Gjesten (cello).

Work

Poroporoaki

Get the recording

Buy the CD from all good record stores or from the NZSQ. It is also on Spotify and Apple Music.

Notes from a Journey II — NZSQ

Award

The NZSQ won the Tūī for best classical artist at the 2024 Aotearoa Music Awards for Notes from a Journey II.

2024 Tūī Award winners — AMA

Tōrua

Music video

Video: 5:46

Andrew Beer (violin) and Sarah Watkins (piano)

About the recording

Recorded by RNZ Concert as part of SOUNZ’s Resound Project at Loft, Q Theatre in Auckland on 23 October 2022. The performance was presented at the World Music Days during the International Society for Contemporary Music and Asian Composers’ League 2022 conference.